Conclusion

"Property is surely a right of mankind as real as liberty. The moment the idea is
admitted into society that property is not sacred as the laws of God, and that there is
not a force of law and public justice to protect it, anarchy and tyranny commence."

More than merely altering the procedural requirements of the forfeiture system, we must
analyze the underlying concerns of governmental power over individuals, as well as the
motives and incentives for governmental action in seeking that power. Individual liberty,
property rights, and individual choice must prevail to maintain a free society. The crisis
mentality must be lifted, allowing us to create a reasoned and limited system of
government based on the protection of individual freedom.

The stakes are high, sometimes even matters of life and death. Shortly before 9:00 a.m.
on October 2, 1992, Donald Scott, a 61-year-old millionaire, was shot dead by federal
agents in his Malibu, California home. Thirty law enforcement officers from the Los
Angeles Sheriffs Department, Los Angeles Police Department, the U.S. Drug
Enforcement Administration, the National Park Service, and the California National Guard
stormed Scotts 200-acre ranch. They burst into the home to serve a search warrant
and to seize marijuana plants said to be growing there. Awakened by the noise of someone
bursting into his home, Scott came downstairs to investigate, gun in hand, only to be shot
and killed by a sheriffs deputy.

A search of the ranch found no marijuana and no contraband. The warrant was issued on
the statement of a federal agent who claimed that, while flying 1,000 feet above the ranch
and without binoculars, he saw marijuana growing below. Unfortunately, the real motive was
much more sinister.

The raiders saw the federal forfeiture laws as a convenient means to seize a piece of
property they desired. The warrant was based on misstatements and omissions and was later
deemed invalid. The intruders were hoping that they might find something in the house that
would allow the federal government to bag the $5 million ranch.

The real motive was to increase the size of the Santa Monica Mountains National
Recreation Area, a National Park adjacent to the Scott ranch. Scott had repeatedly refused
to sell his ranch to the Park Service. U.S. Park Service officers took part in the raid,
though they had no jurisdiction to do so. Ventura District Attorney Michael
Bradburys investigation discovered that the value of the ranch was discussed at
pre-raid briefings, where agents reviewed property appraisal statements and a parcel map
showing adjacent land sales in the area. As Bradbury noted, there was no reason "law
enforcement officers who were investigating suspected narcotics violation would have any
interest in the value of property sold in the same area other than if they had a motive to
forfeit the property."

In this case, as in many others, forfeiture law became the reason for law enforcement
action and not merely an incidental consequence. Though there are great harms in either
case, the danger to life, liberty and property is greatest when the pecuniary desire for
confiscation alone motivates the government to act. It was not until after this incident
that California realized the need to seriously commit to reforming the incentive structure
which motivates many forfeitures in America today. It no longer permits agencies to use
property they seize. Californias system should be examined, for it has passed more
significant seizure reforms than any other state.

Lord Acton could have been thinking of asset forfeiture when he penned his famous
dictum that, "Power tends to corrupt and absolute power corrupts absolutely."
When the government gains extensive powers such as those in asset seizure and forfeiture
laws, combined with the creation of perverse incentives which bring benefits to the state
or its officials for the exercise of that power, tragedies like the death of Donald Scott
should be expected. Though we do not have evidence of a tragedy of this magnitude yet
occurring in Michigan, this war makes such casualties inevitable in one degree or another.

With this reports information, the next time one attends a government auction, he
should wonder whether it is Mrs. Benniss car he is buying. Similarly, the next time
we flip through the Sunday paper and see an advertisement for a government auction, we
shouldnt just glance and move on to the next page. Instead, we should be worried and
wonder, even if we know we would never commit a crime ourselves, whether someday the
things for sale will be the things we now call ours.